Pistol grip finger tang

ABSTRACT

A finger tang incorporated into the bottom of a pistol grip allowing the ring finger and little finger of a shooter&#39;s hand to exert pressure on the tang, allowing increased stability, handling and therefore accuracy.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is entitled to the benefit of Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/336,409 filed Jan. 20, 2010.

BACKGROUND FIELD

A problem with most pistol grips is the loss of ergonometric control of the handgun when held in the firing position. When the handgun user's lower fingers are not on the pistol grip the user is giving away control of the handgun.

BACKGROUND EARLIER ART

Most pistol grips for compact handguns have been configured to be held by the middle finger and the ring finger because the index finger is used to pull the trigger. Compact handguns typically have shorter grips that allow the handgun to be of smaller size. This shorter grip leaves the little finger of the shooter's hand without a surface to grip.

SUMMARY

The presently described pistol grip device incorporates own finger novel feature, a protruding tang, on the forward facing grip of the handgun. This added tang on the grip enhances the control the shooter has over the pistol. This unique feature allows the handgun user to comfortably place the user's middle finger and ring finger its own space on the handgun grip, and adds a control surface for the user's little finger to utilize. Having a pistol grip with a ring finger and little finger tang protruding from the bottom of the grip facing forward, configured with an upper concave surface with a radius to complementary to a shooter's ring finger and a lower surface with a concave radius complementary to a shooter's little finger allows the shooter to squeeze the tang giving the shooter more control over the weapon.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the use of the little finger tang on a pistol grip of a semiautomatic.

FIG. 2 shows the pressure points on the tang exerted by the little finger and the ring finger on a pistol grip.

FIG. 3 is another view of the tang used on a magazine extender on a smaller pistol with pressure points.

DESCRIPTION

The unique feature of the present invention is a protruding tang at the distal end of the pistol grip. The top radius of the tang's concave surface gives a good surface for the ring finger of the shooter's hand to apply control pressure and the bottom radius of the tang's concave surface is shaped to give the little finger a good surface to apply control pressure. The surfaces are concave to match the roundness of the user's fingers. This “surround grip” configuration allows the little finger to exert upward pressure on the tang, in effect, squeezing the tang between the ring finger and the little finger. This tang can be used on grip extenders for extended magazines, regular magazine terminations and on regular pistol grips and semiautomatic pistol grips.

FIG. 1 shows a stand pistol grip on a semiautomatic weapon with the little finger tang.

FIG. 2 shows the squeeze points between the ring finger and the little figure. This feature, using a ‘surround grip’, allows the user to apply upward pressure with his pinkie finger located in the groove on the bottom of the grip against the ring finger, located immediately above the pinkie, on the forward facing surface of the grip. This pinches the grip between the bottom two fingers while squeezing the grip front to back with the other three fingers and thumb, thus increases stability, handling and therefore accuracy.

FIG. 3 again shows the squeeze points on a smaller grip pistol. This feature, using a ‘surround grip’, allows the user to apply upward pressure with his pinkie finger located in the groove on the bottom of the grip against the ring finger, located immediately above the pinkie, on the forward facing surface of the grip. This pinches the grip between the bottom two fingers while squeezing the grip front to back with the other three fingers and thumb, thus increases stability, handling and therefore accuracy. All hand grips, those for both rifles and for handguns, can make use of this novel feature.

In a recent study it was shown that the ring finger and pinky do not help with grip strength. This comes from the thumb and first two fingers only. The bottom two fingers primarily stabilize and can apply “micro-adjustments” to a gripped item if given a surface to work with. Military users of pistol grip semiautomatic rifles are trained with two distinct grip positions. A ready to fire position: the users hand is in position to allow the fore finger to align with the trigger. And an at ease position, which is the most common position. This position drops the hand down one finger groove to prevent the user from easily reaching the trigger (prevents inadvertently firing). Unfortunately this position forces the pinky finger to fall off the handle and float underneath. This is an uncomfortable and unstable position. The ‘surround grip’ feature provides a comfortable and secure nesting place for the little finger.

In the case of a subcompact pistol, the grip is so small a medium size male hand falls off the bottom of the grip, thus forcing the pinky to float freely underneath the grip. This is an uncomfortable and unstable grip position. The surround grip feature for the compact pistol is perhaps more impactful than the rifle simply because the user often does not have the advantage of two hands holding on for additional stability.

Although the description above contains much specificity, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments but as merely providing illustrations of some of several embodiments. Changes in the details may be made within the spirit and the scope of the invention, said spirit and scope to be construed broadly and not to be limited except by the character of the claims appended hereto. 

1. A pistol grip with a distal end, with a tang protruding from the pistol grip's distal end facing forward, said tang configured with an upper concave surface with a radius to complementary to a shooter's ring finger and a lower surface with a concave radius complementary to a shooter's little finger.
 2. A magazine with a cartridge loading end and closed end, with a tang protruding from the magazine's closed end, facing forward, said tang configured with an upper concave surface with a radius complementary to a shooter's ring finger and a lower surface with a concave radius complementary to a shooter's little finger.
 3. A grip extender, to be used on an extended magazine with a cartridge loading end and closed end, with a tang protruding from the grip extender's distal end, facing forward, said tang configured with an upper concave surface with a radius complementary to a shooter's ring finger and a lower surface with a concave radius complementary to a shooter's little finger. 